Educator Currents Newsletter for all Oklahoma Educators

OK State Dept of Ed sent this bulletin at 01/15/2013 01:25 PM CST

Oklahoma C3 Training

The Oklahoma State Department of Education is offering Oklahoma C3 Training, including Common Core, and we are coming to you! The sessions offered will focus on secondary and elementary sections dealing with English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies and Leadership.

The sessions scheduled for January, February, and March will take place in Bartlesville, Broken Arrow, Hugo, and Weatherford. Click on the link below to get more details plus register for specific trainings! For questions regarding the trainings, please contact the Office of Instruction at (405) 521-3361.

AFT, NEA Partner To Provide Common Core Tools

The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association recently received a $11 million grant to build an online warehouse of instruction tools to assist teachers with the transition to teaching Common Core State Standards. Click here to read this important information.

State Superintendents Arts Awards Deadline Approaches

The deadline to submit student nominations for the State Superintendent Awards for Arts Excellence is March 1. These awards recognize high school seniors who have achieved artistic and academic excellence and have contributed service to their communities. With the adoption of the arts in the new Oklahoma C3 Standards, Oklahoma’s core curriculum, Superintendent Janet Barresi is pleased to co-sponsor this event with the Oklahoma Alliance for Arts Education. "I believe that students who excel in the arts acquire skills that are integrated into other areas of academic study and their adult lives. I recommend that school administrators, arts educators, and community leaders encourage the participation of those students who meet the criteria for this honorary award,” she said. Students may enter in the categories of music, visual art, drama or dance. To see complete rules and a submission form, click here.

March 1 also is the deadline for The State Superintendent Awards for Arts Excellence for school administrators, school boards and arts educators for outstanding support of arts in education. The awards are presented by the Oklahoma Alliance for Arts Education(OAAE) in cooperation with the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE), Oklahoma State School Boards Association (OSSBA), and the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration (CCOSA). These awards are presented annually to school administrators, school boards, and arts educators who have demonstrated support for and commitment to high-quality arts education in their school district, community, or state. Award recipients are chosen by a selection committee of educators, including representatives from the Board of Directors of OAAE, OSSBA, and CCOSA. For complete rules and a submission form, click here.

TLE Update for Teachers

As our state moves forward with our commitment to having an effective teacher in every classroom, it is important that all teachers understand the components of the new teacher evaluation system known as Teacher & Leader Effectiveness (TLE). Therefore, the TLE Office is working diligently to produce informational videos for teachers. Please click here TLE Overview for Teachers to watch a short, ten-minute overview of the TLE system in Oklahoma. You can also download the video on iTunes U. Then, check back next week for more information regarding the quantitative portion of the TLE: Other Academic Measures & Value Added/Student Growth data. Informational videos will be posted under the TLE section of the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s website as they are created.

Ready to Get Digital?

Is Oklahoma schools' internet access fast enough for digital learning? Are our networks prepared to take advantage of the best online apps for video, interactive content, learning management, and digital assessment? Every student and teacher deserves access to these transformative tools, yet many schools are struggling to provide enough internet access to engage students, teachers, and parents online.

Which is why on February 1, 2013, the State Department of Education is kicking off the Oklahoma School Speed Test Month as part of the National School Broadband Test in conjunction with EducationSuperHighway. The goal of School Speed Test month is to take an inventory of the Internet connection speed in the classroom at every one of Oklahoma’s 1,700+ K-12 schools. This information will be used to support our planning for the next-generation assessments to be launched beginning 2014, and as part of our budget process to make the case for increased investment in Internet access for our schools.In order to ensure that this technical inventory is successful, we need your help to ensure that every school takes 10-20 Speed Tests. Starting on February 1, students, teachers, or any person on a school network can go to http://partners.schoolspeedtest.org/oklahoma, test how fast their school’s Internet is, and become part of the movement to upgrade their school to learning-ready high speed Internet!Thank you for your support for this important initiative. Together, we can upgrade our schools!

AdvancED Accreditation

AdvancED
is the world’s largest education community, serving more than 30,000 public and
private schools and districts across the United States and in more than 70
countries that educate over 16 million students. As the global leader in
advancing education excellence through accreditation and school improvement,
AdvancED brings together more than 100 years of experience and the expertise of
three US-based accreditation agencies. The
AdvancED Accreditation Process is a clear
and comprehensive program of evaluation and external review, supported by
research-based standards, and dedicated to helping schools, districts and
education providers continuously improve.

OETA Holds Annual Writers Contest

OETA has launched its annual PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest, a statewide initiative designed to promote the advancement of children’s literacy skills through hands-on, active learning. The Contest encourages children in grades K-3 to celebrate the power of creating stories and illustrations by submitting their own original stories and illustrations.

The OETA/PBS Writers Contest officially began January 14, 2013, and entries submitted to OETA must be postmarked by April 1, 2013. Complete details, including entry forms and rules can be found online.

Each child who enters a story gets a Certificate of Achievement. Parents are encouraged to send a self-addressed envelope with appropriate postage to receive their child's story back after the contest concludes.

Submit stories, with completed entry forms and postmarked by April 1, 2013 to:

Playground Safety Poster Contest Open to All First- through Sixth-Graders

All Oklahoma children in grades 1 through 6 are eligible to participate in the 2013 Playground Safety Poster Contest. The poster theme must be related to playground safety in a positive approach, include the words "Playground Safety" in the design, and be the original concept of the student.

The deadline to submit posters is March 8, 2013. Winners will be announced April 12 and presented at the State Capitol on April 23 during National Playground Safety Week.